


Oh I've Got it Bad

by Runnngfunny



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn, Will Add Tags As We Go, a bunch of 'what if' family dynamics between Cain X and Sigma, also took away the virus because with it none of this works, cannon is gone i broke it, ha ha now we get politics, instead we get crack treated semi-seriously, oh golly gee i wonder what might happen, then suddenly very fast, will grow into its mature rating, xs emotions are breakable objects in the shadow of that blunt object, zeros understanding of his and others emotions is a blunt object
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runnngfunny/pseuds/Runnngfunny
Summary: X can lie. He can lie about a lot of things, even to himself. He tries not too based on morals, but he can. Not this though, this is way to big to sweep under the rug and ignore. Mega Man X, Blue Bomber of 21XX has a stupid massive crush and it won't go away. Now the only thing that could make it worse is if anyone found out. But that wouldn't happen right. Right?
Relationships: X/Zero (Rockman)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

X can lie to a lot of people about a lot of things, including himself. He doesn't normally based on moral code and personal premise but he definitely couldn't lie to himself about this, oh no, he's got it bad and now everyone knows, he knows. Everything's been blown way out of proportion despite all he's done to try keep it from becoming so. Now with the massive horde of reporters and paparazzi knocking on Cain's door all he can think about is the spiral of events that's led him to this point.  
Five weeks ago he stopped by the Maverick Hunters HQ to drop some analysis reports off from Cain to Sigma when he finally met the newest recruit to Sigmas unit. The mysterious red maverick who ripped threw a unit and almost Sigma himself only to wake up after with no memory and no records on his build. Just an incredibly powerful firewall and a strange virus they extracted and removed from his coding behind it.  
From the pictures he looked slightly more mature than X does. The way his gaze pierces through the screen makes his core flutter and he blushes at the idea of them talking. So he was looking forward to it. It's not what he imagined.

"Hello, I'm Zero. You interrupted my training. Excuse me."

It's all he gets from the red reploid, and before X can even try to reply they stiffly turn about face and essentially strut away with a look of boredom and indifference. It's not the best first impression and maybe X has gotten used to the star struck greetings he normally gets. But regardless, the greeting is outside of what's considered to be polite.

"Jeez what a rude-"

It's as Zero's walking away, hair swinging aside that X gets to see the cute ass attached. That wasn't shown in the pictures. A single thought slips through his processors.  
'I think I'd like to feel that up'  
Oh what the fuck. Where did that come from.

"oh, oh my."

"Pardon X? What did you say?"

X snaps his head back to Sigma embarrassed out of his mind. 

"O-oh, nothing! I'm sorry for interrupting your unit training. The hunters are looking fantastic! Your unit looks especially uh, impressive."

'Yes changing the subject, nice job. Keep bull shiting.'  
Sigma just looks past him back to his unit and the retreating Zero, resting there for a moment. He then looks back at X and smirks at him.

"Yes I suppose the new ass-set to the team has really improved the 17ths total efficiency."

X blinks and his mind is whisked out of existence for what he wishes was longer than a second.

"I-, you-, what did-, huh?"

Sigma sighs as if he didn't just obliterate a good chunk of Xs higher thought processes. 

"You started to insult him, stopped abruptly, and then proceeded to watch him walk away for seven seconds X. You were staring quiet intently." He grins wickedly. "I can't wait to tell Cain about this."  
X looks up at him in horror.

"You wouldn't."

Sigma just raises a hand to his receiver and smirks. X's immediate reaction is to go over what legally counts as crowd control and how he can justify popping one of the smoke grenades that the units are working with on Sigmas head. Maybe he could just kick Sigmas legs out from under him. Cause a long enough distraction that he'd forget. No then the hunters would want to know why. Better idea, involves less questions. Just talk faster than him, don't even think about it.  
His hand whips up to his own receiver and joins the call just as Cain picks up.

"Oh hello boy's, I assume this is about what I sent-"

"No Dr. Cain we're doing alright over here Sigma just tripped over a a, a E can and accidentally called you but he's fine and nothing else is happening so we can hang up now."

But he doesn't hang up and is frozen in place. This was a horrible idea why didn't he go with the smoke grenade. He actually slaps himself. The line is painfully quiet and X wants to go back to his capsule and die. But then Sigma opens his mouth and X has to stop his buster forming out of flight or fight reflex.

"I think X may be quiet anamored with our new red hunter. I caught him staring just a moment ago."

"Oh? Really now. X if you need dating advice I have quite the many years of experience up my sleeve you know, ha ha. I was quite the charmer-"

X groans into his hands in defeat. Cain's started up on some story in the background and Sigma seems to be listening intently. He looks back over to the training field and catches Zero twirling and dashing out of the way of buster shots. He is rather handsome the way he maintains that look of indifference all throughout the session. Maybe he does have a crush.


	2. Chapter 2

X endures the rest of Cain’s story behind his hands before they actually get around to talking about the reports X brought over. They leave the training field for Sigmas office and X catches one more glance at Zero before he focuses back to his job. 

“We’re not sure where in the assembly line the mess ups happen because of the time in between when they leave the factory and when the wear from work starts to degrade the systems. And to do so I would need several online and actively working.”

X motions between several different holographic diagrams of a newer machanaloid line that had recently had multiple instances of breaking down and going maverick several months into service. There had been a recall and now Cain had put X in charge of going through the code, construction, and even assembly of the massive construction platforms. The code was solid and after running it through several new stress simulations it proved to be free of fault. Leaving the problem somewhere in the latter two.

“You want to turn some of these back on? Build more? X I can’t possibly condone putting these anywhere back into the public-”

“Now hold on Sigma. X here has an idea and a request for you, and I’m backing it. But the final decision is upon you.”

Cain rested his chin on his crossed fingers and smiled at them through the meeting screen. Sigma leaned back against his desk, arms crossed, and waited for X to continue. He took a deep breath, unnecessary but still surprisingly calming, and switched the hologram over to an itinerary and official proposal for his plan. 

“I’ve looked into purchasing several acres of land in which we could safely operate and observe the platforms over the course of a six month trial. As that was the longest time before any of the platforms would last before turning maverick. I’d like your official backing of this project and support from the Hunters in the form of assigning a unit to watch over the project in case we are able to replicate the desired outcome of having a platform go maverick.”

Sigmas quiet for a bit, and X worries he may have asked for too much of him. After this most recent line of machaloids going bad Cain Labs was under fire from a few loud news agencies. Involving the Hunters could lead to press harassment for the both of them. 

“It sounds good in theory but I’m not so sure X. Give me a day to read over the proposal.”

“Y-yes, thank you!”

X collapsed the holograms back into the pad and handed it off to Sigma. He couldn’t really hide the excitement of his plan being considered from his face and Sigma raised a brow at him. 

“I’ve got more work to do so unfortunately I’ll have to look at this a little later. But I promise I’ll at least take a quick read before I’m done today.”

“Come on back now X, we all have more work to do.”

X excused himself from Sigmas office. He waited for the elevator as it made its way up and when it finally opened he was face to face with Zero, startling him. 

“Ohmygosh-! Oh jeez you startled me, you wait right in front of the doors.” 

Zero just looked confused and there was some laughter behind him as Storm Eagle and Armored Armadillo walked out with Zero towards Sigmas office. Storm Eagle paused briefly and turned to X.

“Pardon us X, and please excuse Zero. He’s still learning to be polite and social manners. Isn’t that right Zero?”

“I don’t see the efficiency in waiting to hold open the door for those fully capable of doing it themselves. Nor do I see why interrupting my work to meet you was required or even important when all you wanted was my name.”

X goes from being happy about talking with Zero to a bit frustrated. He wasn’t even worth his time? X ‘humphed’ and the other hunters frowned.

“Zero calm down. X is actually a rather important figure for reploids. Without him we wouldn’t really be here. X is what the base template for all reploids is based upon. Might do you good to get along with him.”

X straightened up as Armadillo quickly lectured Zero. To his credit Zero now at least seemed more interested and less indifferent towards him. He ventured a shy smile but Zero just squinted in return. 

“I see. I’ll keep that in mind then.” 

Storm Eagle sighed and just waved them on to Sigmas office. X finally stepped into the elevator and watched Zero walk down the hall as the doors closed. The sway of his hips occupying his thoughts all the way down to the main floor. He walks out with a smile. Zero might be an ass but at least he’s cute and has the potential to be less of an ass. Plus it really seemed like Sigma would consider his proposal. All in all not a bad day. He hums to himself walking out the public entrance and all but skips to the cain lab’s company pickup. He had a good feeling about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An attempt at plot is being made and im gonna make an effort to make the chapters longer after this.
> 
> Hope y'all are enjoying it so far.


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m approving your proposal for a joint project.”

X gasps and can’t help a small whoop of joy before Sigmas flat stare makes him self conscious enough to settle down. At the head of the table Cain chuckles and continues with his dinner. 

“I do have several conditions however.”

“Yes of course, what do you need? Or uh, want to add?” 

X sits up in the chair and reaches across the dining room table to pick up his portable data pad and opens up a document for notes. When ready he looks up at Sigma.

“I would like at least half the team working to be from the Hunters own R&D department as to streamline shared data but we’d be willing to help provide all the equipment you’ll need. I’d also like to move the location a bit closer to the city. Not much as I still share your safety concerns but this way I can have any emergency response to the test zone within half an hour as opposed to a full hour.”

X needs to put a hand up making Sigma stop so he can catch up. So far everything Sigma would like doesn’t seem too unreasonable and should be quick to change.

“Sorry, anything else?”

“Yes one more thing. I want to assign you a personal detail along with the requested security team.”

X stops typing and frowns at Sigma. One hand clenched on the table top. Cain sets down his fork. What?

“Excuse me? Why on earth would I need one? I know I’m not a hunter but I think I’m more than capable of handling myself.” 

This hadn’t been the first time that Sigma had tried to get X a bodyguard. Or rather, force one on him when he thought X was almost too kindhearted for his own good. X didn’t like it, having someone put themselves in harm's way for him, making it seem as though he was unapproachable. So he had shut that down quickly much to Sigma’s frustration. Figures he would find a way to try it again. 

“I’m not accepting a personal detail Sigma. I don’t need one and I hardly see why you think I’d need one for a project like this. There’d be a whole squad of hunters there anyways to deal with any problems with the mechaniloid.”

“X this isn’t about the mechaniloids. I was approving the reactivation of dangerous units known to become irregular. I was required to inform the city council and a few government agencies of your proposal as well. Once your project is fully approved and becomes public do you really think your critiques will respond well? And how do you think right out anti-reploid parties will react? I understand that you are fully capable of fighting and putting down mindless drones but I need you to understand that there are also people capable of potentially doing the same to you. Without hesitation.”

X had withdrawn his hands to his lap holding them in tight fists. Sigma wasn’t wrong, no matter how badly X wanted him to be. It was frustrating. And X didn’t like to think about humans as frustrating because then that would mean he didn’t like interacting with them sometimes. And that didn’t really work when the world perceived him to be the perfect bridge between them. This was the part he didn’t like about being Mega Man X. The part he was still getting used to. 

“You know making me walk around with some bodyguard will just make them even more upset and feel right about-”

“This is for your safety X. If you want me to approve your proposal you’ll need to accept my terms.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Boys!”

Their argument stops when Cain raises his voice above theirs. It was almost a shout. X hadn’t realized they’d gotten so loud, it was so childish of him. Sigma still looked annoyed with X but knew better than to possibly talk over his father. Cain takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

“X the lengths you go to try and convey your trust and beliefs in the better parts of humanity always astounds and inspires me but-”

That’s hammer coming down upon the anvil, X can hear the final verdict before Cain even opens his mouth. He slumps back in his chair.

“I’m going to side with Sigma on this one. I’ve always worried for your safety and recently I feel like you’re not as worried as you should be. If you want to move ahead with this you need to agree to the terms.”

X stands from his chair and storms out of the dining room and back into the house.

“I don’t understand why he won’t just accept that it’s safer to have a guard, especially for this.”

“He doesn’t like it because to X it enforces the idea that he is someone above others. Which he hates. He’ll realize that having a guard is a good idea is not an unreasonable request in response to your concerns and agree but, it won’t mean he’ll like it.”

As if on cue Sigma receives an email from X very curtly agreeing to the new terms and has updated the proposal in the appropriate manner. It’s missing any of the familiarity that's normally in X’s messages. He really is mad at Sigma. 

“But I think I know a way to make it more bearable for him.”

“What do you have in mind?”

Cain finally picks his fork back up and smiles.

“He can’t be mad at his security detail when he’s got a crush on them. Does Zero have permission to work on solo missions yet?” 

  
  


A few days later at Cain Institute of Modern Robotics X is running late to his meeting with Sigma and the assigned Hunter that will be escorting him everywhere for the next half year of his life. He’s walking slowly on purpose. He’s out of armor and dressed like most of the humans working around him. Jeans, department shirt and lab coat with rolled up sleeves. Only difference is his all access id badge hanging from his egg patterned lanyard. 

He swipes through a few doors to reach the lobby and stops short. Zero is standing in the lobby next to Sigma, acutely observing every person, human or reploid, that passes. He stops and stiffens, after a second he turns to fix his gaze directly on X like he knew he was being watched. X felt his face flush as he was caught but forced his legs to keep moving forward.

Is this a joke? This has to be a joke. Any second another hunter will walk up and stand next to Sigma, because otherwise he might glitch out after thinking how hard that this has to be a joke.

“Ah X, there you are. I was worried that you might have been caught up with something.”

“You’re late.”

If Sigma found Zeros own critique of X’s tardiness out of line he didn't voice it. X hides a grimace.

“You’ve met once but I’ll introduce you again for professionals sake. X this is Zero, a Hunter from my 17th elite unit. He will be your assigned security for the major duration of our joint project. If it’s alright I’d like to go over a few more things with you in your office about this as well as a few other things related to the transport of the mechaniloids.”

Oh god he wasn’t joking. He takes a second longer than what’s probably polite of him to stop staring at Zero and look back to Sigma.

“Ah- yes of course. Please follow me. I assume you’ve both got your id’s?”

They nod and show off their own id badges before X leads them back through the building and up a few floors to his office. It’s a bit messy but his desk is moderately clear and he only needs to set a few things aside before Zero and Sigma are sitting across from him. Sigma goes over a few more specific rules of the extent of what Zero’s allowed to do and act on (it mostly seems like a reminder for Zero of his boundaries and to let X know what is and isn’t acceptable) and then dives right into the next few days itinerary once the rest of Cain Labs equipment and the three construction platforms are loaded and secured. When he’s done he excuses himself and leaves X alone with Zero back in the main lobby.    
  
X’s mind is blank for a bit watcching Sigma walk out before Zero call’s his name, making him jump.

“Huh? Sorry, yes?” 

“I would like to have a tour of the loading bays and the facility as well as have access to your personal comms line.”

“My personal line?”

X just knows he’s blushing but he can’t help it.

“Yes, for when I need to contact you and for emergency situations. Not having it will only hinder my job. May I have access?”

“Yes, of course.”

X sends Zero a ping and Zero accepts, trying out their channel once he’s saved the contact.

_ “This will suffice. Thank you.”  _

Hearing Zeros voice in his ear sends a slight shock through his system not unlike what a full body shiver might feel like for a human. This was going to have horrible consequences X just knew it. 

“Uh huh, yeah come on, “ X points back through the doors deeper into the labs. “I’ll show you around. Don’t stray too far otherwise you might get locked between doors. We’ll need to get your id upgraded so you can enter areas and go through doors without me walking you everywhere right? Ha ha.”

“Yes and if anything does happen I can call you through our communication.”

Zero makes no change to his facial expression so X just thinks it best to get on with the tour before he says something else stupid. Doesn’t help when he trips over himself watching Zero look about some of the larger open work areas. He receives a message from one of his coworkers after he picks himself up. 

“ _ Hey we finished working on the simulation rooms upgrade. We need to test it out before you take off with it. Are you done with picking up your guard dog?” _

Oh shoot! He got all caught up showing Zero around he forgot. 

“Hey I’m sorry but I’ve still got some work to finish do you mind if we cut the tour short today? I can finish showing you around in a bit.”

Zero’s face changes just slightly to express what X thinks must be annoyance. 

“That is fine. I’ll accompany you.” 

“Oh um it’s alright Zero its just some programming work.”

“I can’t go anywhere else as I do not have the proper id access and It will allow me to see more of the area. Besides my orders from the commander were not to leave your side while away from the testing sight.”

Ah, right. Well that was, annoying. And also will kill him though sheer the embarrassment he will cause for himself. 

“Ugh alright come on then.”

X leads them down a long hall and into an operations room that overlooks a large arena space below them. A few heads turn when the door opens.

“Whoa X you really weren’t kidding when you said Sigma was going to make sure you were under surveillance 24/7.”

“Whoa wait isn’t that the new guy that we got sent pics of!”

“Looks like it, didn’t X say he-”

“hEY GUYS! This is Zero. He's my security detail for the project and until we can get him a proper pass card will be hanging around with me, everywhere I go. Zero these are some of our sim-tecks. They manage and repair the simulators here and the one soon to be at the Hunter HQ. This is Flint, Mayline, and Bett.”

Zero observes the three scientists with a cool assertive gaze before he just humps and stands off to the side at attention, ignoring the rest of the room. X walks over to the rest of his peers by one of the many running terminals and lets out a deep sigh. Bett and Mayline are reploids so they immediately ping their group chat while Flint has to pretend that he needs to read an email.

“ _ Holy shit he looks just as gorgeous as his photos you sent but, what stick got shoved up his ass?” _

_ “Yeah I’ve met newly activated drones with a more cheerful disposition.” _

_ ”X you said this guy was cute. I was expecting something more charismatic. That, that was just awkward. He made us feel awkward and we’re the clique. He looked over us like we weren't even there. Are all hunters this uptight?” _

__

X just shrugs at the comments unable to reply to any of them and turns his chair to face the screen in front of him.   
  
“One last check right? Then I can test it out?”

Bett sighs and rolls his own chair over and provides a hard line cable with two ends. X takes it, inserts one end into the terminal and the other into a hidden port on his aural cone. He reads through the program and its core program a few times before he unplugs. 

“Everything seems fine, let's roll the simulation.”

X stands up and walks over to a door that opens to a set of stairs that go down into the arena. He removes the lab coat and tosses it over the back of a chair and quickly descends to the main floor. He hears a noise on the steps behind him to see Zero has finally moved from his post to watch him from the door. The simulator has started up and the hum of machines fills the air. Zero's voice pops up in his ear again and X flinches slightly.

“ _ What are you doing down there.” _

It could be all the noise but X thinks he catches the faintest hint of interest in Zero's voice.    
  
_ “Testing the new training simulator for the Hunters. Just watch.” _

Maylines voice rings out over the loudspeaker as the room's edges start to fuzz out and slowly transform into a street in the downtown area of the city. 

“Please could I have Mega-nerd-, hush Bett I am being professional-, Megaman X suit up and report to the corner of 7th and Aspen to test out simulation rooms first active trial with sim damage.”

A flash of blue light and X has summoned his armor. It’s uncomfortable over the clothing but it’s a test to see the simulation responses to his movement and accuracy tracking. He really won’t be doing anything else but walk around the room. A door slams and X turns to see Zero is no longer watching. Oh, maybe he wasn’t interested. He shouldn’t but X feels sort of stood up. With a sigh X turns back around and warms up his buster with a low charge.

“Alright May, run me through it and let’s finish this.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't just make up names for one-off characters without drawing them so I went and drew X's coworkers mayline, flint, and bett.  
> https://twitter.com/kerro_chan/status/1249966747202928640?s=20


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im the one man team which means im my own beta reader (ie. im apologize for grammar and spelling) woop woop!
> 
> *edit may 5*  
> okay 1 am isn't a good time to post, i just read through it and was not to thrilled about a few things so i have gone through and edited the chapter a bit

By the end of the simulation X has a few small scorch marks and a bit of a headache but not much else. With a bit of fine tuning the simulator room would be the perfect place for Hunters to practice and run through previous missions for training. It was X’s project before many of the construction mechaniloids started to become irregular. Now it was more of a side project he wanted to finish the main body of before leaving. 

He jogs to the top of the stairs (not an easy feat in the massive boots, he needs to remember to install a lift) and re-enters the control room. He’s not two steps in when Zero walks up to him and with that intense piercing gaze that makes X's knees weak, immediately begins an unprompted assessment of the entire trial. 

“Your reaction time is far below what you should be capable of, you have almost no technique or style you follow aside from jumping around shooting off poorly timed shots and it took you almost twelve minuets of what should have been a six minuet trial. Four and a half if I ran it.”

He pauses briefly as if waiting for X to do.., something. X has no idea what Zero's going on about and is rather embarrassed by the rather harsh scolding he’s getting in front of his peers. After a few more seconds of silence Zero makes another annoyed sound before going on. 

“You clearly have immense fighting and power potential. Why was I never informed you had combat capabilities and your own armor. Why were you not in armor when you first came to HQ? Looking back I can say it was incredibly foolish of you to come into the training areas so unprotected. When you fight you don’t bring that foolishness with you I hope?”

Zero’s tone and wording had quickly turned from a stern to accusing . And while he certainly seemed to be more open and inquisitive then X originally thought, X still found the tone and assumptions really rude. He caught Bett and the others exchanged nervous glances. There was the occasional ping from the chat but he couldn’t check them now. Zero’s eyes seemed to somehow squint even further while he waited for a reply. 

"I don't fight. I don't like fighting. I don't think it's necessary to be in my armor at all times as it's not always conductive for my work. As for the training ground, I was a safe distance away and shouldn't have to have been worried about anything. As for the trial, the goal was to test it, not beat it."

Zero seems far more upset about his armor than anything else. Maybe if he… X sent his armor away with a sigh and went to retrieve his lab coat. When he turned around Zero did seem to be a little less on edge and an underlying pressure in the room let's off. He hadn't even noticed it when he first came back up. Bett and Mayline look ready to flee the moment they could while Flint looked really pissed off. The chat now had about 20 plus unread messages. Had something happened while he was down in the test? 

"I also don’t appreciate you making assumptions about me after only knowing me for all of half a day.” And then to himself under his breath, “And maybe I shouldn’t have either.”

Zero still looks frustratingly annoyed about something and X just sighs. Turning to the rest of his team he walks over and nudges Bett to show him some of the results. 

“I’ll send you my own personal footage in case I missed something in the test.”

It’s at this point X notices that no one has said anything and done nothing other than nod. Puzzled X finally checks up on the missed messages. They seem to start up just after the test had started. 

_ “Holy shit x did you say something to piss him off? _

_ “Ha ha he looks like you told him that you’re gonna pull all the hunters funding” _

_ “OH SHIT WHAT IS HE DOING” _

_ “X your guard dog just plugged into the system with his OWN HARDLINE” _

_ “Can he do that? Is he allowed? Flint can he do that?!” _

_ “X x xx x x x please he looks real mad please respond” _

_ “Bett he’s in the sim he probably isn’t paying attention” _

  
  


_ “DUDE IS GRIPING THE TABLE AND BENDING THE METAL” _

X side-eyes a terminal and only notices, now a bit unsettled, that there is indeed a small bit of warped metal a few desks down. Skipping a few more messages about the desk it doesn’t get any better.

_ “Is that xs profile he’s pulled up?” _

_ “Hes looking at your armor specs x“ _

_ “That shits confidential! he can hack????” _

_ “May close off the terminal this is deff a breach of personal security” _

_ “OH SHIT HES LOOKING AT US NOO NE LOOK X PLEASE HES FUCKING SCARY”  _

_ “Im contacting Mr. Cain. Dont care if he’s a hunter this is not okay and im gonna make a formal complaint” _

_ “Uuuugh this blows, may how much longer until x is done?” _

_ “Two minutes. just no one say anything and maybe he wont do anything.” _

There's more but X doesn’t bother. Zero hacked into the lab's systems and dug up his personal employee profile. He makes brief eye contact with Bett who’s minutely shaking his head, eyes wide in disbelief. There was another notification he had missed from his lab's email and his personal email letting him know about a remote access to his profile from a new source. He stood there leaning over a screen mind blank. Zero had hacked into the lab's systems with nothing but a hardline connection and himself to facilitate it. All to look at his armor? What the fuck. He turns on Zero who is once again standing off to the side looking pretty acting like he hasn’t done a damn thing! This was not at all professional and definitely beyond what he as a guard was allowed to do. 

“You broke into my personal email. You can’t just do that.”

Zero for his credit at least looked a little awkward for a second before giving a less than heartfelt apology. X bites back a retort and after making sure his video feed was properly saved for review walks out of the silent operations room trying not to let his frustration get the better of him and have an unsightly angry outburst. Zero follows without a second glance and keeps to a polite distance a few feet behind X. It’s petty but he ignores Zero as much as possible. After a minute of silence Zero finally speaks up.

“Are we going to resume the tour? I would still like to see some of the outside of the lab.”

“What? No. Of course we’re not. Not after what you just did! I’m going to ask Cain if I can have you switched. That was so unprofessional, I can’t-, you just- ugh!”

“You can’t!”

“What do you mean ‘can’t’? What you just did was a total violation of my privacy! Not to mention your blatant misuse of Hunter privilege to gain access to our servers! ”

Zero had stopped walking. When X turns around Zero’s standing stock still, looking at the ground. Brows scrunched together in frustration and a frown with the most minuscule tremble graced his face. It’s the first time Zero has expressed any emotion aside from annoyance and he can’t help but watch with fascination as Zero has what X thinks might be a small panic attack. 

“This-, this is my first solo assignment. The first one I’ve been allowed to do without direct supervision or repeat check-ins. I’m already under heavy scrutiny from several of my unit members after what happened to the 15th unit. I can’t fail this assignment or they might not allow me or trust me to try again.”

“Hey-”

“I am requesting that you please omit my mistake and laps in protocols from any formal report. I don’t wish to make my standing with the First any worse.”

Zero suddenly bows forward at the waist, hair tumbling around his shoulders. It’s quite the sight and several people passing in the hall slow down to watch, murmuring to each other and covering small laughs. X quickly walks back to Zero trying to make him stop. Eventually just pulling him along past the small group watching. 

“Okay okay! Please you don’t need to call me that it’s embarrassing! Ugh, I haven’t been called that in a while.” 

He looks back at Zero who’s currently keeping a pretty fixed gaze at where X’s hand is still holding his. X screeches in his head and pulls it away. 

“Sorry! I- uh. I just needed to get us away. Anyways I won’t tell Sigma, but I still need to talk to Cain about your forced login.”

Zero’s eyes widen. 

“It’s not gonna be bad I promise! I just need to tell him not to do anything. I mean it wasn’t malicious right?” Zero just nods once to affirm the statement. “Maybe this would even be a good time to talk about a better security system.”

Zero doesn't say a word the entire rest of the way to Cain’s office. When they get there it seems that Cain is already waiting for them.

“I got a rather exciting email from Flint about our new Hunter. Full of spelling and grammar mistakes, very exciting read. I was particularly taken with the bit about the damages to the desk, but that’s not the main issue is it?”

He looks between the two of them with a knowing smile. X can see Zero tense up and go ridged next to him. Zero still doesn’t say a word and X can’t help but feel bad for him. Cain breaks the silence with a loud laugh that startles them and leads X to think that maybe Cain is losing it.

“We’ll deal with that later. You know Zero, I think it’s time we did another quick scan of your systems. You’ve been operating for a few months now and we should probably check to make sure everything's running smoothly. Don’t worry, it won’t be anything intrusive. Just like you requested last time.”

X is a bit befuddled as Cain directs them to his small personal lab in the next room. There’s a single capsule separated from the observations room by a wall of glass. Zero hesitantly settles into the capsule as Cain goes about connecting wires into their correct ports. X is waiting in the observation area, watching as Cain talks to Zero. He can’t hear them but he’s sure it's about the incident from the way Zero tenses up and avoids eye contact. When everything's ready he joins X and starts up the programs. He pushes on the small intercom button to talk to Zero.

“Alright then we’ve started. It’ll be about four or five minutes.”

Zero nods and settles back, closing his eyes. X takes a seat next to Cain in one of the few chairs around him. The first of the few diagnostic programs are coming back and X absentmindedly reads every few lines of system check offs. Another screen is going over different parts of Zeros build, every now and then it has to skip areas where it can’t gain access to the system or its build is to foreign for the program to properly analyze. 

“Well, what do you think so far?”

“I think you and Sigma like watching me embarrass myself.”

“No, what do you think about Zero, and besides I also enjoy watching Sigma try to deal with his fans so my enjoyment of watching you be embarrassed is split equally between you two.”

  
  
  


“Despite looking older than me he sure acts like a stuck up kid sometimes.”

“Oh-ho! Your crush isn’t as cool or socially suave as you though he might be?”

“N-no-, he’s just, well he’s just not as mature as I expected!”

“Yes while you matured for several years outside the capsule it appears Zero has the basics of an older teen maybe just approaching adulthood. I assume his creator wanted to watch them grow up and be able to influence them like a father. But honestly, who on earth would give an underdeveloped emotional teen such insane military specs. Look-” 

Cain points to a screen pouring over endless pages of battle tactics and various weapon specks. X even catches several paragraphs going over some hyper-radical theories on time travel and government restricted elements like bassieum. And this was only the stuff they had access to. 

“It’s like they just dumped it into him as priority information and the end result was that it pushed all of his socialization, empathy, and the few social rights and wrongs he is made aware of, to the back. And look at this, they put something called a ‘threat assessment’ in as an essential function, and i'm not sure it’s as simple as just a program, looks like it’s built in as part of his psyche.”

Cain sits back and puts his head in his hands.

“They built a child, with absolutely no social connections or understanding of them, whose first and foremost action upon entering any space, is to see which thing has the highest potential to kill him and then find the best way to fight it. Just imagine what it must have been like. Waking up to the 15th unit's presence trying to move his pod. I don’t think that was maverick-ism, just pure instinct to survive under critical threat and swayed by the influence of a dangerous virus.” 

The realization struck X and he too sat back in his chair in silence. Zero wasn’t purposely rude and indifferent to social relations because he didn’t like anyone. He was indifferent because he was constantly wary of them. He was wary of X. When X summoned his armor he must have triggered the threat assessment, no wonder Zero had freaked out back in the simulation room. X looks at him now, laying down in the capsule, he’s opened his eyes again blankly looking up at the ceiling. 

“Truthfully there are several reasons we assigned him to you. The main one obviously to make this whole ordeal less of a hassle by not having you be constantly angry with your security detail. But I also think you could be helpful to Zero. Help him get used to social norms and interactions. Please X, I don’t think he has anyone else.”

Zeros turned his head slightly looking over at the glass wall separating them. Their eyes meet for a moment and X smiles, waving a hand. Zero nods and turns his gaze back to the ceiling.

“What about today? He still broke into my email and scared the heck out of the sim lab people.”

“Tell him why what he did was wrong and what he could do next time to try and avoid a similar outcome. Simple as that X. You know not everyone has the luxury of having 30 years of morality testing.”

“... I know.”

The diagnostics finish and everything comes back clean so Cain goes back over to Zero and helps him untangle from the mess of wires. When they’re done he tells Zero off with a light slap on the wrist and practically pushes them out of his office and back into the hall telling X to finish the tour and go home. 

Half an hour later they finish the tour outside the loading bays watching as a mix of Hunters and various lab employees organised and load equipment and one of the three of the construction platforms. X watches Zero take everything in with a critical eye, asking no questions aside from the occasional comment. He’s not sure how he can tell, but Zero still seems a bit rigid and wary. He takes the moment to try and talk to Zero.

“Hey um, look, I’m sorry about threatening to have you replaced. I understand now that this is a big assignment for you and I freaked you out a bit with that. If it’s alright I’d like to get to know you more so we can get along for the next few months. Is that alright?”

Zero’s stupid, pretty, intense blue eyes meet his and X is able to hold the gaze a few seconds before he has to glance away. 

“That is perfectly acceptable. However, if it is alright I’d like to spar with you as well. Is this addition to the agreement okay?.”

That’s it? He wants to fight a little? Well he is a combat model, maybe this is how he and the other hunters have also bonded?

“O-oh, that’s all? Sure. I’m fine with that”

X sticks a hand out and Zero hesitates before he takes X’s hand and shakes it. X smiles and counts it as technically holding hands. Further away across the lot and on the far side of the chain link fence that sections off the property several sets of clicks go off as a wide camera lens observes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon the two of them in their late teens early twenties most of the time, but cuss this fic focuses heavily around pre X-1 time wise they’re between 16-18 years old. Le Ding  
> im sorry this took a bit longer to finish than i expected. i recently picked up a second job and its just very physically draining.


	5. Chapter 5

As far as tabloid magazines go it’s fairly standard. Several pictures featuring people in supposedly scandalous situations or places dot the sides in their own smaller headlines. However the largest photo to grace the cover of the popular political gossip magazine ‘ _ Able City Circuit’  _ is one of X himself. It mainly focuses on him but Cain and Sigma are also seen shaking hands. He doesn’t remember it being taken but then when are most of these kinds of photos ever taken with permission. He does however remember the event. Cain and Sigma had gone out to meet with the City Council regarding something and X had been invited along as Cain’s assistant. Upon arriving the two shook hands in greeting, X standing just between them. That had to be when the photo was taken. He couldn’t forget that Cain wore that ridiculous tie.

However the picture is taken far out of perspective by the headline that accompanied it. ‘ _ MEGAMAN X OFFICATES BACKROOM DEAL BETWEEN HUNTERS AND REPLOID POWER HOUSE CAIN INSTITUTE’ _ . It was the first thing to read when the magazine had been tossed down in front of him at the breakfast table of Cain's house after Sigma had teleported in rather suddenly. 

“A backroom deal? That's an exaggeration. Is this about our project? I thought we weren’t going public until-”

“Read it.”

Sigmas voice is tight and the anger he must be holding back is easily conveyed by his cutting and simple reply. So X sets aside the small cup of tea he’d been drinking and picks up the apparent offending magazine, flipping through several pages of vapid gossip about celebrities and politicians. The daily churn of “who dun it?” and “who said it?” clearly not the reason for Sigmas wrath. That is until X flips to a full two page spread where the first thing he focused on was a picture of him shaking Zero's hand in the loading bay area just a few days ago. It’s not the only photo on the page however. There’s a blurry shot of X walking out to meet them in the front lobby and the largest photo is the loading of the construction platform onto one of the Hunter transports. 

“Wh-whu? When-?”

“Read. It.”

So X quickly reads the two pages of surprising accurate information. They even have the general timeline for when X planned to load and move the platforms. And where the article isn’t accurate in fact, it’s scathing in how it depicts X as someone needlessly endangering the city and uncaring for those lost by turning the mechanoids back on. It ends with a call to action, to demand the city council put an end to the project and cancel it outright. X sits in the chair frozen to the spot. Shutdown the project? After everything he went through to get it approved? What about finding the problem in the mechaniloids? Moreover, how was this uncaring? Wasn’t trying to find the reason everything went wrong and fixing it so it wouldn’t happen again a good thing? He’s startled out of his thoughts when Cain pats his hand, gently pulling the magazine from him before he destroys it.

“Come on now X, the paper hasn’t done anything to you. Heh heh, look at this  _ ‘Has Lights last legacy lost it?!’ _ , getting really into the alliterations recently haven’t they? And no, I think you’re still one of the saner beings currently residing within the city. And you,” He turns to Sigma who’s momentarily taken back by Cain’s harsh tone. “would it really hurt to let me know before you suddenly teleport into your father's house unannounced? Scared me half to death.”

X has to cough to hide his laugh as Sigma stutters out an apology. X relaxes a bit with Cain’s breaking of the tension. He was working himself up into a freak-out, it also managed to smother some of Sigmas anger. After they’ve all calmed down Sigma starts over. 

“We have a leak. This project wasn’t to go public until the day after tomorrow when the transports we’re to be well on their way to the test site. It’s not totally unexpected due to the amount of people working on it but they only have dates for the leaving time and general time frame which leaves me to believe it’s not someone actually working on the project.”

Cain lets out a huff, rolling up the magazine and tapping it against the side of the table. The three of them go quiet. Cain continues tapping the magazine as he talks through his own thoughts.

“Could have been someone at the city council management building. It’s not like any of them have incentive to be loyal towards either of our organisations and some of them do have access to all our permits. I’m not the most popular over there right now.” 

"I don't think so. The number of individuals allowed to have access is extremely limited and all signed confidentiality contracts for the exact purpose of avoiding this."

“This- this isn’t going to halt or delay the project is it?” X is still worried about that specific part of the article. “Without it we can’t test for the problem and the whole platform line will have to be decommissioned.”

Cain rests a hand reassuringly on X’s back patting it a few times. It's moments like this X couldn't have asked for a better or more supportive person to have found him.

“No nothing of that sort will happen. The government has already approved everything. It’ll be fine X. Head off to the labs and finish packing up, just use the teleport pad today. We can assume now there might be some sort of small protest or media. But I don’t think it’ll be of too much concern.”

X downs the rest of his drink and gets up to head to the private teleport pad. Sigma stops him before he can leave the room. It took just a moment but he's reigned in his anger and is back to his curt and professional self.

"Zero will escort you to and from your home, Dr. Cain's home and the labs from now on if you decide to not use the teleporter, as well as other public outings.”

“But-, he already follows me everywhere in and around the Institute!”

“And from what’s just happened there could be someone in it who’s happy to tell people the moment he stops. So we won't be giving them a chance to do so.”

“Come on now X, look at this for all it’s good. Now you have even more chances to try and woo him.”

At X's surprised face Cain bursts out in a guffa and smacks the table with the magazine several times. X balks at the thought. Sigma as usual, finds the entire situation funny.

"What's wrong X. I thought you had a crush?"

"I do  _ not _ have a crush! Dr. Cain-" X looks at the still chucking man indignantly "has asked me to help Zero understand the value and importance of social interactions and interpersonal relations. I agreed and asked Zero accordingly.”

Sigma, confused, turns to Cain for an answer which in turn makes Cain gasp and starts laughing all over again, doubling over the side of the table. 

“I told him to be Zero’s friend. As you can see -wheeze- he’s being very scientific about it.”

“Mm, yes I can see that going over well. Well X, do try and keep things professional, this is Zero's job after all. And I am still worried for your safety."

X just huffs and walks to the teleport pad, stepping to the center and beaming off to the instatue in a flash of light. 

They didn't have to keep teasing him like that! Everything was getting serious and that meant he needed to be professional. Professional meant that he couldn’t have a crush on anyone, more specifically, he wouldn’t allow himself to have a crush on Zero. Who was acting as his bodyguard, his incredibly overprotective and socially inept bodyguard who was almost unfairly unaware of how good he looked. The teleport sequence nearly over X mentally smacks himself trying to refocus, starting a small mantra. 

'Be professional, be professional, be professional, be prof-'

The teleport finishes and the first thing he sees is the intense steely gaze of Zero not two inches from his face.

"EEP!"

"Good morning X."

X took a stumble back and after a second tried to calm himself down from the scare, muttering. "Why do you always wait right in front of doors and stuff." Zero ignores X's reaction and continues on.

"My orders have changed to follow you whenever you leave the Institutes grounds. I came to inform you of the update as well as to say hello."

"Hello?" X is a bit puzzled by that. 

"Yes, since you have asked me to be your friend I wanted to act accordingly. I asked Storm Eagle, as he is my senior unit member, what I should do and he told me that friends normally start the day saying hello to each other." Zero paused in his report waiting on X, fooor something. X noticed that was something he seemed to do often. Waiting for an expected, and perhaps to Zero, an obvious response. 

"Hm, perhaps I did this incorrectly."

"Incorrectly?"

"Yes, I looked up greetings and normally after saying good morning to a friend the other will reply back. You have not yet. Did I do something wrong? Are we not really friends yet?"

"Oh! No, no of course not, I mean- we are friends! I'm just a bit surprised by your enthusiasm and dedication to take the initiative!"

Really he just feels bad that he didn't think Zero would be so active in actually trying. And really shouldn’t he be the one starting out the morning with a greeting. X straightens out his lab coat and smiles at Zero. "Well then I suppose I should respond accordingly. Good morning Zero." 

Zero's face is neutral but his mood does seem to change just a bit. He seems less rigid, did he really put that much weight on getting something so small correct? X relates to that, perfectionist that he is. At least with the surprise greetings over they can get started with the day.

"Well then, should we head to the loading bay? I need to confirm that everything is ready for tomorrow."

"Fine, but I would recommend hiding your identity."

"Why would I need to do that?"

"Commander Sigma has asked me to try and keep media outlets from collecting more information about you and the project at this time. At the moment there is a large gathering of media and loud personalities at the fences on the far side of the lot. They have a view of the loading bays. There are no obstacles stopping cameras with enhanced lenses from taking photos and video. That is where the photo of us in the paper was shot from. I am still attempting to find out who took the photo in the lobby however. Also,"

Zero pulls out his id badge and holds it up for X to see. X doesn’t see anything wrong until he realises it's the same badge from when Zero and Sigma first arrived and not the enhanced one he sent Zero to get a few days ago.

“I still have yet to receive my proper badge with more access, I still can’t go through some doors despite the upgrade to it when you sent me to security. Granted it was a human working there who did it instead of the official security officer but said he could do it while they were busy. That is an error on my part for not insisting on waiting.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner? Is there really a point to doing it now, we’re leaving tomorrow morning.” X reached out for the badge and Zero handed it to him. He quickly looks up the badge number in the security system and finds that while it has in fact been upgraded, it still wont allow him access to some of the security halls and employee areas and strangely enough, the room where the training simulator is being tested. “Ugh, I’m sorry Zero but can this wait just a bit longer. I really do need to check the transports and the inventory lists.”

“Fine, but please try and disguise yourself.”

X lets out a huff but finds a company cap to pull low over his eyes and brushes his curly hair down a bit to hide his aural cones. From a distance you wouldn't really be able to tell whether or not he's human. But X looks to Zero who nods and says "This will suffice for now, I will stand back a bit to avoid making you stand out." With that Zero escorts him through the building to the loading bay, a few reploids from the Hunters are waiting for him with each transport's cargo listed on tablets. Zero does take a step back as X and the Hunters walk through the open loading doors. 

The transports are massive, built to carry and move a whole squad of ride armor units and the construction platforms just make them look even bigger. He barely makes it to the first transport when the yelling begins.

It starts with a few loud exclamations to gather further attention but then it switches to yelling obscenities and chants. The crowd is reasonably sized despite the short period of time between when the article was published and now. He can also see a few news agencies with cameras doing live interviews, and just as Zero said, there are individuals with cameras with specific wide and zoom lenses. He picks up on one person tracking him specificly and for the first time X feels uncomfortable. He pointedly looks down at the list going through every item and marking it as accepted. It's a pretty good distraction for the first few minutes, but it's when he's nearly done that it happens.

First thing he's aware of is Zero, who engages his dash boots to full power despite not being more and a few yards away from him. Next, several -phut- sounds go off. The Hunters around him all immediately try to pull him behind themselves. Zero is faster, he's already there, arm pulling X close to shield him and reaching over his shoulder for the hilt of a beam saber. It ignites and X feels Zero's arm swing in an arc, whatever Zero hits makes a sizzling noise and then a few startling cracking noises as what he doesn't hit strikes against his armor. Everything is still, even the protestors have gone silent. This lasts for a few short seconds before someone yells and a panic starts. The Hunters around him pull him away from Zero and move him to the back of the truck out of eye-sight with Zero covering them as they go. As they’re backing up X can hear the tell-tale sound of a buster forming and with the whine of a low charge already going. He looks back at Zero shocked to see that it's aimed towards the crowd. 

"No! No weapons! Zero-" X pulls free from the protective shield the Hunters have made around him to rush towards Zero. He grabs the buster and shoves it down. 

"You can't threaten or go after them, not now, please!"

Zero whips his head around and glares at X.

“What are you doing! You need to get to cover, they are armed!”

He looks furious and wild, the buster charge continues to build. X does his best to meet Zero's eyes' without flinching. But X does break eye contact to sweep over Zero's upper armor. He can see where whatever was shot had hit him. There's one small spherical dent, hardly half a centimeter wide on one shoulder, next to it another contact point but it still has something lodged in. 

X touches it and is surprised by how hot Zero's running, he's keyed up for fighting, but when X is able to get the small pellet out he recognizes it. It’s not a bullet but more like an air-soft pellet, it could maybe ruin a repoids eye and make a dent on the outer plating, certainly make him hurt for a moment, but it wouldn’t kill him.

"Zero, it's not lethal. You don't need this. You can put it away." His hand squeezes the buster gently but doesn't move away. 

It's a tense few seconds as Zero’s charge stays humming in the air. Finally with a huff Zero does back down from combat mode. The whine of the charge fades away and Zero's buster reverts back into his hand. He still looks ready to go right back into combat but he doesn't move. X can feel a slight tremor below where his hand still rests on Zero's. 

Moments after Zero's buster is gone the door back inside bursts open and X is rushed inside while the Institute's small private security force begins converging towards the protestors. The sound of sirens whine in the background before the door is closed behind them.

X is checked over first and nothing comes up aside from the fact that he’s reasonably stressed by the situation. Zero however is riddled with several more of the pellets and flinches whenever the medic approaches with the tweezers to pull another one out. Everytime another reploid from the security team walks in the room to give an update or check in, Zero’s hand reflexively twitches. X finally tells everyone to just stop coming into his office and just send him notifications with updates. 

There’s already calls from both Cain and Sigma. Cain is already on his way to the city council building to deal with the situation and Sigmas call is demanding that X stay inside the building and that more Hunters have been sent to watch the campus grounds, Emerald Spears isn’t directly claiming involvement but they are praising the actions taken by the unknown assailant. Following it is another message directing him to keep Zero in a low profile as well, there's already footage of him raising a buster towards the crowd. ‘Neither of you are to leave the Institutes grounds until I say so. That’s an order to Zero and a very strong suggestion for you X. Don’t do anything reckless.’

The message ends, no more notifications are coming in and he’s muted all his social media accounts notifications for the time being. It’s very quiet and the weight of what just happened finally catches up to him. He sits in his chair and crosses his arms over himself in a tight hug.

“I’ve never been shot at before.”

He takes a deep breath trying to control the pulse of his core that just keeps giving him more power to act on the fear he feels. He knows that what was shot wasn’t lethal but it would hurt, and that scared him. It’s long past the moment but Fight or Flight subsystems won't shut up. It’s too much for his sensory system as false adrenaline kicks through him. His lip trembles and a small sob escapes him, his eyes well up and when he blinks the first tear rolls down his cheek. Another breath and sob and the tears keep falling. His arms close tighter in a failed attempt to comfort himself. He almost forgot that Zero was still with him until he spoke. 

“It’s true, you do cry on your own.”

Lifting his head slowly he catched Zero staring at him intently. When X has sat up Zero walks closer and kneels down, leaning in to observe the crying android.

“Whu- what?”

“We all know you’ve done it but Vile always told me it was all fake and you could activate it manually to create sympathy from humans. But there are none here, and you are not trying to receive sympathy from me, you haven't actually acknowledged my presence since we entered the building due to what I assume is your system reacting to a delayed registering of the danger you were in, your core is creating a surplus of energy that’s not going towards anything else but your higher through process, I assume you’re currently going over the moment repeatedly yes?” 

“How do you-?”

“I do it too.” Zero answers quickly, staring straight at X. He breaks contact after a second and scowls at the floor. “However now I know Chill Penguin was right, Vile isn’t an individual to be trusted much for facts. Pity since he’s one of the few Hunters I was considering attempting to make friends with after I properly learned from you.”

Hearing that name didn’t really help X with his current emotional situation but hearing Zeros break down of his current emotional state actually sort of helps X, the fact that he knows what’s going on in his head is an incredible comfort that X wasn’t expecting at all. He wipes the tears from his face.

"How do you deal with it? How do you make it go away?"

"I go to the training area and run the hardest aiming course until I get 100% compleation or find some B or C class to spar with."

"Not A? Why wouldn't you fight someone from your rank? That would be more fair and better for training wouldn't it?"

Zero looked down at his hands, making fists. 

"No I.., it feels good, when I know I can outclass my opponent completely. And it's one of the few things that I know I enjoy."

Oh. X wouldn’t be surprised if that had something to do with the threat assessment. But now that they’re talking about it he does think that working out the extra energy would help. 

“Hey Zero, you said your one condition of our friendship was a spar correct?”

Zero sits up straighter and nods. “Correct. I think it could prove beneficial to you, but under the current circumstances it would also serve as a good way to help with your power build up. Is that your reason for bringing it up?”

“Uh yeah, it is actually. Would you like to?”

“Yes, however I highly recommend you put your armor on, I don’t think you’d survive without it. And I was unaware you had a sparing space on campus.”

X gets up on shaky legs and laughs.

“Yes of course. Don’t worry I keep it stored by the gym. And you don’t have access to the personal employee area; the gym and sparring area wouldn’t have been something you got to see yet.”

“I can understand the gym, but why a sparring area?” 

They exit the office and X is the one who buzzes them through the security door into one of the underground tunnels instead of walking from one building to the next. 

“We make quite a lot of upgrades and equipment for the Hunters, we need a place to test it. It’d be a pain to have to take something back and forth from the MH HQ every time we’d need to make an adjustment or tweak something. The time it would waste is ridiculous. So when you do receive something from us chances are it’s already been tested a few times already and it’s mostly there for a final test or fit.”

X lets them out back inside the right building and heads to his private armor storage.

“Why don’t you just summon your armor like you did last time?”

“Because that was over my clothing which is incredibly uncomfortable and it doesn’t actually connect to all my systems and body properly. I need my body suit for it all to hook up right.”

“You can’t just connect it straight to your body?” Zero looks at him incredulously. X flushes slightly.

“Well of course but then I’d be naked! Oh god, well sort of-, I’m not like reploids I don’t just have- ugh.” He rolls up his sleeve to show Zero the pale pink-peach toned synth skin. “Look, you and other reploids have this on your face and hands while the rest of your limbs are made from the more durable and protective albeit slightly less sensitive stuff. I’m covered in this, I can wear the armor like this but then I’m well…”

“Incredibly exposed. I see. Alright then I understand, taking the extra time to stop by here is justified.”

X sighs and yells in his head to stop lingering on the fact that he said the word naked. It’s stupid, he’s stupid, the word naked is stupid. When they get to the locker rooms X makes Zero stand a row away. 

“Personal comfort, I don’t like being seen completely bare. Please, just stay over there.” 

Zero seems a bit puzzled but nods and stays put, waiting until X is ‘dressed’ in the body suit that leaves his hands and feet exposed before X allows him to come back around and see X’s armor. With every piece that locks together and connects to him a small hum builds as his systems sync to the armor. Zero watches with curiosity and X can see that he’s running hot again, he wonders if Zero’s threat assessment builds as each part connects. The build of his feet shifts and comes apart to mesh with the boot parts. 

“You alright?”

“Yes, sorry. Your build is nothing like others I’ve seen. All the powers and abilities I’ve seen are built into each reploid I’ve met. But your base seems to be able to change your build to fit the armor right? That's quite a lot of potential for upgrades and armor.”

X stares at Zero mouth slightly agape. How did-, he couldn’t-, there’s no way he could know anything about what Dr. Light left for him or the message, but he had gotten into X’s accounts and seen his files. It was an accident he knew that but this was private, that message was personal. Not only is he overcharged with power and stressed he’s upset with Zero again. He really needs this spar to work through all of that. He stands and picks up one of the gauntlets putting it on and pushing a surge of power through it startling Zero. 

“You have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I got super into all the technical parts and head-canons I have for how stuff works. I was half way through this chapter when my work started bring people back to help with instore stuff and reopening so thats why it’s taken so long, thank you for waiting! Good news is that I've got a small head start on the next few chapter so hopefully the wait between them wont be as long as this was.
> 
> Also I got really excited about being finally finishing the chapter and I made art for it  
> https://twitter.com/kerro_chan/status/1283139533656055808


End file.
